Hon member, no we
cannot dismantle this. This is a very important commission, in that it advises us on a whole range of issues related to the conditions of service of the members of the SA National Defence Force. You are probably aware of the fact that members of this commission I think last year, actually went as far as going out to mission areas of deployment, for example the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yes, for them to see the conditions under which our soldiers live. So it is a very important source of information and an advisory board ...
[Interjections.]
No, wait a minute. The joint committee does not deal with the conditions of services of the members of the SA National Defence Force.
Now, you are saying they have not set. I am not sure if they have not set. For I do not receive reports every time they sit, I only receive reports when there are recommendations they want to put forward to me as a member of the executive. So for now, what I do know when they are invited even to events they are available and I am assuming that they are meeting. They have a secretariat, remember, which is fulltime which is there to provide support to them.
So hopefully, once we appoint these three - we will appoint the three because we want the full complement - not because there is currently no quorum. There is a quorum.
And you were then saying what function would not be fulfilled? You know one of the things which one has admired about the existence of this commission; soldiers are not people who find it easy to come forward and complain about any thing. Soldiers would rather keep quiet. However, with this kind of commission, we are able to get information from them about things which make them unhappy, about the treatment which we give to them without undermining the command and the control issues, and about their everyday and their daily welfare challenges. Therefore, I therefore because maybe you feel that the work they are doing has no impact. It does have a very
positive impact on our own work because we enable them to improve the conditions under which they work. Thank you.